


Louis Crowe and the Eldest Ones: The First City

by TrainerGrimm



Series: Louis Crowe and The Eldest One [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Drama, Mesopotamian Mythology - Freeform, Multi, OC/OC - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrainerGrimm/pseuds/TrainerGrimm
Summary: Louis Crowe was mostly a normal teenager, at least so he thought. When his parents send him off to some private school across the country in New York that apparently has something to do with his biological father, he starts seeing things that shouldn't be possible. One-eyed teachers, horned front desk people, and an abundance of swords. And what's this about a 'First City?' He doubts they mean Jamestown VA. But Louis is two things above all else, smart and creepy as hell. He's getting to the bottom of this.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: Louis Crowe and The Eldest One [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019344
Kudos: 1





	Louis Crowe and the Eldest Ones: The First City

A young boy was looking out his window into the overcast skyline of Olympia. It was early, about four forty he wanted to say; the sun hadn’t even risen yet, however little difference that could feasibly make given the climate of the Puget Sound. He sighed, it would be the last time he saw it for a while; he was being sent off to some school in New York. Apparently, his acceptance had something to do with his biological father? The boy, Louis Crowe, snorted- it was some of the most flagrant nepotism he’d ever heard of considering he had never heard anything from his father. They pretended he was his step dad's biological kid in public anyway, and as far as Louis cared, he was. Jackson was the only ‘dad’ he’d had for most of his life. 

He jumped a bit when he heard a knock on his door, “Lou? Can I talk to you?”

Louis answered by opening the door, wincing a bit when his mom hugged him; the kid didn’t like to be touched. His mom sat the pair of them on his bed and held a box out. Hesitantly, Louis took the box and opened it. It was a phone? Whenever Louis had asked, his parents had said no. With his ADHD, they said they didn’t want to give him a big distraction like that, at least until he was a little older. It wasn’t top of the line or anything, just an iPhone 8. But he looked up to his mom with a raised eyebrow, silently asking why now?

“Jack and I figured that with you going off to Roosevelt, now would be a pretty good time so you can keep in touch. And whether we like it or not, you are the son of some pretty big public figures, so you’ll need to have this in case something really weird happens” she explained, “But we do have some rules, alright?”

Louis nodded, somewhat unsure what to make of this whole thing, and his mom continued, “First. Call us every Sunday, okay? I want to know what’s up in your life. Don’t make me call at midnight, hm? Well, nine over here, but. Second, try to limit how many games you play on it alright? Same with the internet, you have the laptop for a reason. We’ll know, trust me. Now, why don’t you go through my phone and transfer your friends’ phone numbers?”

“Thank you. As for that last bit, because I don’t have any?”

Cynical, perhaps, but not particularly untrue. Louis had a habit of being creepy. He didn’t really know why. Whenever he got even kinda close to someone, he’d say something that freaked them out, or when he shook their hand they suddenly looked really freaked out and backed away. His mom said that he was ‘too intense,’ for most 16-year-olds, but he doubted that. He lived a privileged life with parents who cared about him- how could he be too intense for people from similar or worse off backgrounds? It had been going on long enough Louis knew how to hide how much it hurt, and he tried not to hold it against them much anymore, but honestly, it stung. 

His mother offered him a fist bump, which he accepted, and said, “Don’t be like that. This time’ll be different. I promise. But if you’re sure, come on. Jackie’s already waiting with Martin at the car, let’s get going. Time for the first day of the rest of your life.”

Louis followed her out of the house, but before he reached his dad and Martin, he gave a sad smile to his three-story home. He turned to them and gave his dad a fistbump and Martin a handshake. Martin’s dynamic with the family was a bit weird- Jackson had hired him to help take care of the house a few years ago, along with some others, but the family had taken a liking to him. For Louis’s part, he was sort of like an uncle at this point. And Martin had certainly done more to teach Louis to be an independent young man than Jack; Jackson couldn’t drive to save his life, so he’d turned that particular parenting over to Martin without much issue. 

Jackson turned from packing the trunk with a tired smile, clearly, it was early for him as well, “How ya doin Kiddo?” 

Louis gave a shrug as he gave his dad a handshake, “Other than every sarcastic comment I’ve made about the idea of going across the country for school when there are plenty of good ones here? Fine, I suppose. And uh, thank you for the phone.”

The family rode in silence. Louis wanted to talk to Martin before his flight, but he hadn’t gotten the chance before the man had foisted Louis into the car. The jet black SUV barreled down I-5 in the early morning with a slightly sad atmosphere. But soon they got to the airport.

About five minutes before he and his mom planned on getting in line for clearance and such, Louis turned to Martin, “Hey Mart?”

Martin looked to the boy with a raised eyebrow, having told him numerous times he wasn’t a fan of the name, “Yes, Louis?”

“I just wanted to say… thanks man. You didn’t have to come out here. And honestly, thanks for everything.”

To his surprise, Martin hushed him and gave a quick hug, “Please my boy. I’ve known you since you were twelve. Of course I’m coming to see you off. And you forget, even if you drove here, someone would have to take your father home. Now go get in line. Honestly, no one in this family has any sense of time.”

Honestly, the flight was nothing special. His mom had gone over the plan three times- he’d stay in a hotel for a week, with orientation on Sunday, moving in next Tuesday. Miranda would stay with him for the first three days, before heading off to Washington D.C. She was rather upset she wouldn’t be able to see him on his first day and had made him promise to call him once he was moved in on Tuesday. He could accept that. When they got to their hotel about six hours later, Louis was exhausted and starving. In his exhaustion, he could’ve sworn the front desk guy had horns. When they got to the room and he told his mom, thinking it was kinda funny, she was actually kinda disturbed. She seemed to see it as worth paying attention to. Odd, but she was tired too. 

There hadn’t been much going on for most of the three days they were together; of course, they went out to their favorite restaurants in New York, a steakhouse, and a Thai place respectively, but that was it. Most of the third day had been making sure his mom had everything ready to go. That Sunday hadn’t been that much more interesting; he supposed it was pretty cool that the school was styled like an ancient Greek fort; it fit in with all the wannabe Greco-Roman stuff in New England from The Revolution. 

There was some stuff that stood out to him though, just usually not in a good way. He thought he’d seen a teacher with only one eye in the center of her face, and the boy had been taken aback when he heard someone say something like ‘Di Immortales.’ Like, Louis didn’t really care who you worshipped, but it was still somewhat odd to hear as an expletive. And why were there legit swords in the trophy cases-- more than there were trophies in some areas of the school? And this place was way too new for his deadbeat father to have gone here. Maybe he’d donated some to the construction? Louis wasn’t sure what to think about that; it showed he was willing to contribute to his community, but that Louis still wasn’t a priority. For a while, the kid had thought that maybe his father didn’t know Louis existed, but his mom had shut that down real quick. 

By Tuesday, he was still going over this in his head. He was seeing things, to the point he’d asked his mom for a Doctor’s appointment on Saturday, and the guy hadn’t found any signs of trauma. But that didn’t stop him from feeling off. Second, the timing of this school and his father’s supposed connection. He’d been right that it was a modern thing, only a few years old; what’s more, βασανιστής, his father’s supposed last name, wasn’t on the list of donors. Meaning that whatever nepotistic horseshit excuse for his being there just didn’t add up unless the owner was a close friend or something. Louis had started writing everything down. He wanted to get to the bottom of this.

“Yo, Crowe, whatcha doin?”

Louis jumped at the voice, having forgotten this was a dorm, not just his room. Turning to the voice, he saw it was Aster, a name he only recalled at the moment because it was Greek in origin like apparently half this school. And because it was cool. Aster was cool enough it seemed, given the first thing he’d asked Louis had been his thoughts on Green Day. After Louis had sung and played American Idiot, he’d gotten Aster’s approval. Louis’d been forced to take guitar and singing lessons, he better be able to play his favorite song. Now though, Louis might have to readjust his view of Aster for wearing a gaudy orange t-shirt. Louis was of the opinion few people looked good in orange, and the fact the school’s uniform required at least a little of the color   
would get grating fast. 

Regardless, he answered the boy with a, “Trying some journaling. Trying to organize my thoughts, ya know?”

“Gotcha, gotcha. Say, you wanna play some UNO when you’re done?”

Louis hesitated longer than he knew was appropriate. His roommate was making an effort to be nice and include him in something, but Louis knew how this ended. He would hang out with Aster, play UNO with him every couple of days until suddenly Aster was scared shitlesss living in the same dorm as him, let alone playing card games. On the other hand, if Louis kept his guard up and didn’t get too close before things went to hell, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get his mind off this stuff for a while. He sighed and stood up. 

In his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed the figure staring up at his second-floor window.


End file.
